


Simpler Times

by noodlerdoodler



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sparrow Academy (Umbrella Academy), Birthday Fluff, Bisexual Diego Hargreeves, Canon Compliant, Childhood Memories, Diego Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Family Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Fluff without Plot, Gen, Good Parent Grace Hargreeves, Griddy’s Doughnuts (Umbrella Academy), Hargreeves Children (Umbrella Academy) Need a Hug, Kid Fic, Lesbian Vanya Hargreeves, Multi, Non-Binary Klaus Hargreeves, Other, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, The Hargreeves (Umbrella Academy) Need a Hug, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Trans Diego Hargreeves, Vanya Hargreeves Needs A Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:39:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26746744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noodlerdoodler/pseuds/noodlerdoodler
Summary: There wasn’t really enough room for seven, even if one of those seven was as small as Ben, but they managed to all squeeze into the booth together. Luther, Allison, Vanya, and Five were crammed on one side, while Diego, Klaus, and Ben sat on the other. Always keen to play the leader, Luther waved the waitress over so that they could place their order.“Are you kids sure you should be out this late?” The waitress asked gently, a glint in her eye as she surveyed them in their mismatch of pyjamas and clothes, “I wouldn’t want you to get in any trouble with your parents.”Klaus wheedled, “But it’s our birthday.”The rest of them clamoured in agreement, bobbing their heads.“My stars, is it really? All of you?” The waitress, (her name tag readAgnes), seemed to only half-believe them but played along, “Well, I better get you some doughnuts then. And how about some milkshakes?”
Relationships: Allison Hargreeves & Everyone, Allison Hargreeves & Luther Hargreeves, Allison Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves & Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves & Everyone, Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & Everyone, Diego Hargreeves & Grace Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Grace Hargreeves & Everyone, Klaus Hargreeves & Everyone, Luther Hargreeves & Everyone, Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy) & Everyone, Vanya Hargreeves & Everyone
Comments: 7
Kudos: 134





	Simpler Times

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Into the Night](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22881673) by [spikeymarshmallows](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spikeymarshmallows/pseuds/spikeymarshmallows). 



On their birthday, much to their disappointment, Reginald Hargreeves had sent them all straight to bed after dinner. It wasn’t clear if this had been his plan originally or if he’d made the snap decision after Five had kicked up a fuss at the table, arguing with their father while everyone else pretended to be interested in their lasagnes. Either way, all of the Hargreeves had been upset, (or, in some cases, just bitter), about skipping dessert on their birthday of all days.

The birthday cake, made with love by Grace, had gone forgotten in the kitchen.

Which was why Diego was already in a rotten mood when he was shaken awake in the middle of the night. The sensation of a cold hand grabbing him by the shoulder jerked him awake instinctively and he peered blearily in the darkness of the room. Snap! Diego’s bedside lamp turned on and lit up the overly cheery face of his brother standing over him, grinning like a cheshire cat.

Klaus was still shaking him, even though he was awake, “Get up, Dee, we need to get going!”

“Don’t call me that,” Diego mumbled, already swinging his legs out of bed and slipping his shoes on, “What’s going on? Did Dad send you to get me?”

Training at this time of night, (on their birthday of all days), would be surprising but hardly out of the realm of possibility. After all, they’d been woken up for midnight training sessions before. Crime didn’t sleep, as Reginald Hargreeves liked to remind them, which meant apparently neither should his children. Bastard. Diego knotted his shoelaces and got to his feet.

Vanya peeped shyly through the crack in the door, “Klaus? Is he up?”

Though it would be unusual for _Vanya_ to be invited to a training session, especially when she had her music lesson first thing in the morning. She hovered in the doorway, twirling the end of her braid in her fingers, and smiled hesitantly at him. Now that Diego’s sleepy brain could process it, there wasn’t the blaring alarm overhead that usually prompted them out of bed.

“Where the hell are we going?” Diego demanded, as he grabbed his coat and followed his siblings out into the hallway. It didn’t slip his attention that they were creeping like mice, Klaus prancing dramatically on the tips of his toes like a pantomime villain, towards the end of the hallway.

Behind them, a door creaked open and two of their other siblings spilled out into the hallway. Five was fully dressed in his uniform, both hands stuck in the pockets of his coat, while Ben was rubbing the sleep from his eyes and still wrapped in his blanket. Glancing back to check they were following, Klaus skipped to the end of the hallway and rapped quietly on their sister’s door.

“Be quiet!” Allison hissed as she ushered them all into her bedroom.

Like Vanya, she was wearing her dressing gown over her pyjamas and seemed to be one of the conspirators in whatever was happening. Looking nervous, Luther was sat cross-legged on her bed and worried his lower lip with his teeth. He _didn’t_ seem to know what was going on. Good. Diego had to bite back a snort as they all filed into the room and he flopped onto the chair by his sister’s vanity. When they were all safely inside, Allison relayed the mission in a whisper.

“We’re going to Griddy’s!” Her eyes were shining with glee, “For a birthday treat.”

Luther seemed suddenly very interested in his pyjama sleeve, “What about Dad? You know he’d never let us go somewhere this late.”

_He’d kill us if he caught us sneaking out_ goes unsaid. Vanya shifted nervously on the spot, now chewing on the end of her braid. Meanwhile, Ben looked on the verge of falling asleep standing up as he slumped against Klaus and rested his head on his shoulder. Klaus patted him fondly.

“Grace is going to cover for us,” Five explained flatly, “You don’t have to worry about getting another blemish on your record, Number One. But we need to get going.”

He looked to Allison, who nodded and went to slide the window open- obviously, they had been co-conspiring about this for quite a while. One by one, with Allison leading the way, they clambered out of the window and slithered down the drainpipe. After years of training, they were all adept at disappearing into the night. Luther landed with ease on his feet and helped Vanya down, catching her quickly when her foot slipped. They all exhaled through their teeth.

Klaus only shimmied halfway down the drainpipe before calling out, “Catch me!”

And leaping into Luther’s arms, laughing at the rush, and clapping his hands excitedly. Idiot. Allison was still chastising him for being so reckless when Diego and the others joined them in the alleyway. She probably would’ve carried on if Klaus hadn’t danced away, waving his arms in a frantic attempt to flag down a city taxi. As they followed him towards the semi-busy street, Diego fell into step with his other brothers: Ben and Five.

“Why couldn’t we just go down the fire escape?” Ben was complaining.

Before Five could launch into a longwinded explanation, (no doubt he’d worked out the best route out of the house and was eager to show off his calculations), Diego cut him off:

“Happy birthday, bro,” He leaned over and pressed a small wooden octopus into Ben’s hand.

A few months ago, their dad had caught Diego carving his initials into their dining room tables with one of his knives. Being the irritating prick he was, Reginald Hargreeves had sentenced him to woodworking lessons at a local carpentry shop rather than just giving him a slap on the wrist. No doubt he intended to bore Diego to death. It wasn't exactly a secret that Diego's attention span was virtually nonexistent. 

But it hadn’t been _that_ bad. Actually, Diego kind of liked using his knives for something practical and real for once. He’d worked hard on his siblings’ presents during their allocated study hours, when they were supposed to do their homework. Even if they were a bit rough and rushed, the tiny wooden figures had turned out reasonably okay.

Ben certainly seemed happy with his, throwing his arms around his brother’s neck in a surprising display of affection. Unsurprisingly, Five was more blasé and just smiled to himself as he rolled his lopsided wooden dog between his fingers. They stepped onto the sidewalk together.

A taxi had been successfully summoned by Klaus and all seven of them piled into the backseat, fumbling for their seatbelts. It was more than a little cramped and Diego ended up with Allison’s sharp elbow digging into his ribs and Klaus’s armpit in his face.

“Griddy’s Doughnuts. Step on it,” Five told the driver, who looked a little suspicious.

The taxi driver eyed them for a minute. Then, he just shrugged, took the money, and drove.

At Vanya’s shy request, the radio was turned on as soon as they had left their home in the distance. Maybe it was the excitement of the evening or the freedom of escaping their father but they all sang along to the Queen song crackling through the taxi speakers. Diego tapped his foot in time to the music. Only the two girls and Five had any real ability to carry a tune but Klaus made up for lack of talent in enthusiasm. His singing was deafening.

By the time they reached Griddy’s even Luther was grinning and shouting _we are the champions, yes we are the champions_ with the rest of them. They all fell out of the taxi in fits of laughter and shivered their way across the parking lot.

“Hey, Diego, wait a tick,” Klaus grabbed his arm and pulled him aside, “Look, I got you a gift. To say thank you for, you know, putting up with me. Happy birthday to us.”

He was wearing a ratty black fur coat that he’d thrifted a few weeks back and dug around in the pockets until he found what he was looking for. Victoriously, Klaus withdrew something small enough to fit in the palm of his hand and thrust it at him. It was a rainbow pin badge.

“I got one for Vanya too,” Klaus said proudly, “Because we’re different from the others. Well, I have my doubts about Luther actually. You can always hide it inside your blazer so Dad doesn’t see it,” He paused, “You do know what the rainbow stands for, right?”

Of course, he knew. Diego took the pin from his brother and, with some difficulty, fixed it to the lapel of his coat. A few years ago, he might’ve hesitated to do so… Afraid of what it might tell other people about him. Now, he found he didn’t really care. For the first time, he noticed a rainbow glinting at him from the fur of Klaus’ jacket and looked up to see that Klaus was grinning. The little idiot was thrilled to have something in common with his big brother.

Diego put a hand on his brother’s shoulder, “Let’s get inside before we freeze.”

When they entered Griddy’s, their siblings had already commandeered a booth and were clambering over each other to get the window seat. A kind waitress, whose blonde hair was beginning to turn white, was watching on with amusement.

There wasn’t really enough room for seven, even if one of those seven was as small as Ben, but they managed to all squeeze into the booth together. Luther, Allison, Vanya, and Five were crammed on one side, while Diego, Klaus, and Ben sat on the other. Always keen to play the leader, Luther waved the waitress over so that they could place their order.

“Are you kids sure you should be out this late?” The waitress asked gently, a glint in her eye as she surveyed them in their mismatch of pyjamas and clothes, “I wouldn’t want you to get in any trouble with your parents.”

Klaus wheedled, “But it’s our birthday.”

The rest of them clamoured in agreement, bobbing their heads.

“My stars, is it really? All of you?” The waitress, (her name tag read _Agnes_ ), seemed to only half-believe them but played along, “Well, I better get you some doughnuts then. And how about some milkshakes?”

Allison had been peering at one of the menus, running her finger down the list of drinks. Now, she raised her head and put on a sophisticated voice that she reserved for grownups that she was trying to impress. It made Diego and Five exchange smirks.

“Actually, I’d like to try a coffee. They’re very metropolitan,” It was obviously a phrase that she’d picked up in a magazine but Allison made it sound polished, “Thank you.”

“I’ll have the same,” Luther wanted to impress her, “After all, we are _eleven_ now.”

Diego refused to let his brother one-up him, “M-me too.”

“Seven coffees please,” The diplomatic Five cut in before the situation could escalate any further, “And as many doughnuts as you’ve got.”

Entertained, Agnes seemed doubtful about their choice of drink but left the table to get the coffee and doughnuts that they’d requested. Allison threw down her menu triumphantly, obviously pleased with herself. And indeed, her ordering coffee would’ve seen very mature if her brothers weren’t arguing about who could eat more doughnuts without puking right next to her. And if she hadn’t wrinkled her nose up as soon as the coffee arrived, sniffing it hesitantly.

Diego took a bold swig, keen to show up his brother, and almost spat it out immediately. The bitter flavour was disgusting and he thought it tasted a lot like he’d licked the sole of someone’s shoe. He forced himself to swallow, aware that his siblings were watching, and shuddered. 

The others followed suit: Vanya grimaced immediately, Ben screwed up his face, Klaus swilled the drink in his mouth, Luther spat his back into the cup, and Allison kept sipping hers despite the pained look on her face. Only Five seemed to enjoy the bitter taste. The rest of them were grateful when Agnes returned, this time with a tray of milkshakes.

Seven doughnuts followed, each with a battered set of candles stuck in them. Although Diego had been sure that people only performed ‘happy birthday’ in movies and TV, Agnes and the other patrons (a homeless woman, a man with a dog, and a few business people) sung to them. There was an awkward pause when it came to the names.

“Luther, Vanya, Allison, Ben, Five, Diego, and Klaus-y!” Klaus filled in for them.

“Happy birthday to you!”

Diego flushed involuntarily as he blew out the candle on his birthday doughnut and hoped it didn’t show. He’d never had anyone sing to him on his birthday before- none of them had- and it was embarrassing to have strangers do so. Though, secretly, he was glad that Klaus hadn’t just recited their numbers or codenames. He was enjoying having a night away from it all. Diego plucked the candles out of his doughnut.

“What did you wish for?” A quiet voice drew him out of his thoughts.

Across the table, Vanya was smiling at him, “Huh?”

“When you blow out the candle, you have to make a wish,” His sister explained, looking (as she always did) slightly uncomfortable, “But you can’t tell anyone or it doesn’t come true.”

He hadn’t even known that he was supposed to make a wish. Looking down at the striped candle, Diego couldn’t help feeling annoyed that he’d wasted the opportunity. Now, he’d have to wait a whole year, (probably even longer), to make a wish again. He could’ve gotten a nice new set of knives right now. He desperately wanted some. Reginald had neglected to get him a birthday present, even though he’d hinted repeatedly that his old knives were getting blunt. None of them had gotten gifts from their father, who'd insisted that _the anniversary of one's birth was nothing to celebrate_. 

“That’s stupid,” Diego grumbled, “How can the wish come true if nobody knows what it is?”

Vanya frowned at this, as if she didn’t know the answer, and started picking the icing off her doughnut. She looked crestfallen, like she had when they were four years old and made the mistake of asking their father if Santa Claus was real. Immediately, Diego felt a little bit guilty for being rude to his sister on her birthday, not that he’d ever admit it to her face. Even if they were too old to believe in wishes and magic anymore, Vanya obviously liked the idea.

“What did you wish for?” Diego asked finally. It seemed like a safe bet. 

His sister’s eyes lit up, “An electric guitar. I saw one in the music shop.”

The image of Vanya being dwarfed by a guitar was so funny he almost laughed- until he saw the sincerity on her face and forced himself to bite back his smirk. He couldn't imagine her playing anything other than her violin. Instead, Diego turned to watch Klaus attempt to stuff as many doughnuts as possible in his mouth as the others cheered him on and groaned in equal parts. This prompted the start of their unofficial competition as they ate doughnut after doughnut, delighting in the sugariness and trying to outdo each other.

Only Five stuck with his coffee, the rest of them sipping their milkshakes and flicking doughnut crumbs at each other. It felt nice to be away from their father. It gave them the chance to be themselves for once, rather than the personas they put on whenever he was around. Even though Diego could hold his breath indefinitely, as he laughed and joked with his siblings, it felt like he was finally exhaling and releasing the tension in his chest for the first time his life.

“Seven!” Klaus announced triumphantly before he had to dash to the bathroom to puke. Everybody pretended not to notice how Vanya’s head instinctively snapped up at the mention of her number and Luther excused himself to check up on their stupid brother.

Five checked his watch, “We should probably head back soon. Grace can’t cover for us forever.”

“Mom,” Diego corrected pointedly, tired of hearing him refer to her as if she was a servant, “She’s our Mom.”

“Two, she’s a machine-“ Five was hushed quickly.

It wasn’t quick enough to stop Diego from hurling himself across the table and swiping at his brother’s head with his fist. At the last second, Five blipped out of the way, reappearing at the other end of the doughnut shop. Instead of his brother’s nose, Diego’s knuckles made contact with the wall behind the booth and he bit back a cry as pain shot up his arm. One of his siblings muttered something about him being a hothead. He cradled his poor hand.

How could Five talk about their mom like that? As if she hadn’t spent most of the day carefully crafting a birthday cake that they would all like, despite their father telling them it was just an ordinary day. As if she hadn’t made them a special birthday breakfast with mountains of pancakes and rivers of maple syrup. As if she hadn’t covered for them all sneaking out. And as if she hadn’t flung her arms around Diego this morning and given him a secret birthday present to open when his father wasn’t around: an embroidery that she’d handmade for him. 

“Don’t pick a fight today,” Ben pleaded.

Diego’s scowl softened when he looked at his brother, “He s-st-started it.”

“He’s just Five being Five, you know that. Come on, let’s go check that Klaus hasn’t puked on Luther,” Ben climbed out of the booth, “I’ll do your chores for a week if he hasn’t.”

They didn’t even get to the bathroom before they got their answer: an irritated Luther pushed open the door, holding Klaus by the arm of his coat, and announced that it was time to leave. The smell informed Diego that he would not be doing any chores this week.

He was grateful for his coat as the Umbrella Academy headed down the sidewalk, having blown too much money on doughnuts to grab a taxi back. In the cold night air, Luther and Ben were both shivering in just their pyjamas and the girls weren’t too much warmer in their dressing gowns. It was a chilly October night and none of them were really dressed for the weather- their academy pyjamas were thin. Even Diego was starting to wish that he’d grabbed his scarf.

“Here, Vanny,” Ahead of him, Klaus shrugged off his fur coat and wrapped it around their sister’s shoulders, “You know I don’t really feel the cold. Part of the whole child of death gig.”

“He’s so full of shit,” Diego murmured.

Ben bobbed his head in agreement, “I think he’d rather catch pneumonia before he let Vanya get cold. He’s selfless when he wants to be.”

There were no protests from Vanya, who huddled in her brother’s coat and let him wrap an arm around her shoulders. She seemed too tired and cold to bother shaking him off. Indeed, Vanya wasn’t the only one of them who was starting to droop sleepily as they walked home. Luther kept stifling yawns behind his hand, obviously ready to crawl back into bed, and Allison was being carried on his back. Her eyes were closed as she pressed her face into her brother’s shoulder.

It seemed to be catching: just looking at the pair of them was enough to make Diego’s eyelids feel heavy. Even the sugar pounding through his veins wasn't enough to keep away his drowsiness. Huddled between him and Five, hoping to get some warmth from their coats, Ben looked like he might fall asleep upright as he stumbled along the sidewalk. The walk home seemed to stretch endlessly in front of them. As they turned a corner, Five cleared his throat. 

"Look, Diego," He said through gritted teeth, "I'm sorry I insulted Gra- _Mom_. Okay?"

Although it didn't seem sincere, it was certainly the closest that the holier-than-thou Five would ever get to an apology. And in a rare act of goodwill, he inspected Diego's bloody knuckles to make sure they weren't badly injured. Diego let him do so, reluctantly, instead of snatching his hand away, as his own silent means of apology. 

When they did get home, they were all grateful to crawl into the warmth of Allison’s bedroom again. Even if it was trickier to clamber up the drainpipe when they were all half-asleep. Diego expected whispered ‘goodnight’s and ‘happy birthday’s to be followed by them all creeping back into their respective rooms. But they didn’t even get that far.

“G’night, Allie,” Still wearing his shoes, Klaus flopped onto the bed and promptly fell asleep there.

For a moment, they considered carrying him, (which would be easy enough for Luther to do), back to his own bed and leaving him there. But Allison just sighed and poked him in the shoulder, so that he rolled over to the edge of the bed. Then, she curled up under the blanket and nestled against her brother’s shoulder. Before Diego knew what was happening, he was being ordered to fetch more blankets and they were having an impromptu slumber party in Allison’s room. Ugh. 

“Boys on the floor,” She told them, gesturing for Vanya to clamber into her bed too. 

Five asked in amusement, “What about Klaus?”

“Klaus is Klaus,” Allison rolled her eyes, “You know it’s not the same.”

By the time Diego returned with blankets, she’d already dropped off to sleep and had one arm draped sleepily across Vanya. Their little sister just looked pleased to be included for once, a serene smile on her face, and had literally let her hair down by freeing it from its braid. Klaus had snuggled up on Allison's other side, humming contently. The same couldn’t be said for his brothers, who were waiting impatiently for Diego to return and arguing about who had to sleep next to Ben- the horrors were restless sleepers. Ben himself was already half asleep on the fluffy rug. 

Diego dumped the blankets unceremoniously on Luther’s head and shrugged off his coat, flopping down next to them. It didn’t escape his notice that Five was still rolling the small wooden dog figure between his fingers, looking at it fondly. 

* * *

The next morning, when Grace came in to wake them for breakfast, she was surprised to find six of the seven bedrooms completely empty. Beds hadn’t been slept in and shoes were still missing from their wardrobes. This activated her concerned motherly protocol, as she knew that her children had snuck out the night before and worried that something might have happened to them. How would she explain to Reginald Hargreeves that their beloved children had gone missing and that she was the one responsible for it?

It was only when she peeked in Allison’s room, at the end of the hall, that her circuits stopped going haywire with panic. One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, and Seven were all accounted for. The poor things must’ve been tired out from their nighttime adventures and crashed where they were as soon as they’d gotten home. Grace couldn’t help smiling at them fondly. It had been so long since they'd all slept in the same room. 

Her children looked so peaceful, for once, when they slept. So much younger.

On the floor, four of her little boys were cozied up under a makeshift pile of blankets. Luther was snoring gently, his chest visibly rising and falling as he slept on his back, and he seemed blissfully unaware that Ben’s small face was pressed against his shoulder. It seemed the horrors were behaving themselves as the boy wasn’t twisting and turning as he usually did in his sleep. Or maybe they had settled down because Diego was holding onto him tightly from his other side.

Diego, the silly thing, had neglected to remove his shoes and was drooling in his sleep. The only one who wasn’t locked in the embrace was Five, who was sleeping with his back pressed against his brother’s and a book still lying open in his hand. He'd obviously passed out before he'd gotten the chance to bookmark his page. 

The girls were cuddled just as close, their hair tangled on the pillow of the bed. Vanya and Allison were lying nose to nose, more comfortable with each other than they ever were while awake, and their fingers were locked together on top of the blanket. Perhaps it was no surprise they were curled up together when Klaus was taking up most of the bed, splayed out on his stomach like a starfish. Grace couldn’t help chuckling at the sight.

While she knew breakfast was the most important meal of the day, she couldn’t bring herself to disturb the kids for it. After all, they must be exhausted from their midnight adventures, the poor things. Breakfast could wait, Grace reasoned, and she closed the door quietly.

She hoped her children had enjoyed their birthdays.


End file.
